Consumers to see lower light bills in June

KINGSTON — The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) in a release Wednesday (May 25) says that local electricity consumers will see lower light bills beginning June 1.

The OUR said that the reduction follows its annual tariff adjustment exercise, and that it has reduced the amount of the system losses which may be passed on to customers.

The release stated:

“Consumers will see lower rates for electricity supplied by the Jamaica Public Service Company Limited (JPS) with effect from June 1, following the annual tariff adjustment exercise conducted by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR).

“The OUR has reduced the amount of the system losses which may be passed through to the customer. This has come as a result of the mandate of the OUR issued to the JPS in the 2009 Tariff Determination to reduce losses.

“The OUR provided a loss reduction fund which was a percentage of the 2009 tariff, to support the company’s loss reduction efforts. As a result, the target amount which can now be passed through to the consumer has been reduced by two percentage points to 17.5% down from 19.5%. This means the company must continue to improve its loss reduction efforts in order to avoid the penalty of losses.

“Customers will also benefit as a result of the reduction in the amount of fuel being used to generate power following the recent addition of renewable energy to the national grid.

“The renewable addition coupled with the lowering of the system losses target, will result in an overall average reduction in bills to residential customers of just under 1.7% while commercial customers could see average reductions of up to 2.3%. The complete determination is now available on the OUR’s website at www.our.org.jm.